Need Help with Jump Question

[Gwaihir]

Please help me with this ruling. I let this go, provisionally, because I didn't want to halt the game while I figured it out but need to understand the ruling for the future.

A character is fighting two monsters. He has a ring of jumping. As his combat turn, he took a 5 foot step back to avoid the AOO, then jumped high up in the air and landed 10' behind the monsters. End of turn.

Can he do this without incurring an AOO?
Thanks

 

[Thanee]

Not quite...

For one, you cannot perform a 5-ft. step AND a move in one turn.

But, since he only moved, he could use the Withdraw full-round action to leave the threatened area without provoking an AoO and then Jump as part of movement (tho, I somehow doubt, that he can jump that high and far without a running start and a huge skill (the ring certainly helps there)).

Note, that creatures also threaten the squares above them in a 3-dimensional view, so to avoid any AoO from jumping, he would need to jump 5 feet OVER their heads (for standard medium-sized, 5-ft. reach creatures), that is at the very least a 10 feet high and 15 feet long jump.

Normally he would need to use the Tumble skill to get past them and avoid AoOs on the move.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Remember that in addition to using the Withdraw action, he also needs to clear the opponents' reach, not just their height. There's a chart under the Jump description that gives vertical reach ... I'd add something to that depending upon what weapons the foes are using.

For example, assume he's facing Medium creatures. They have an 8-foot reach. If they're using longswords, you'd be justified in adding a foot or two to that, meaning he'd have to clear 10 feet with a high jump ... that's a DC of 40 with a running start. Without a running start, the DC would be 80, which I might well be literally impossible.

I've had players make a DC 40 jump check before, BTW, to do exactly this. It was extremely impressive.

 

[Thanee]

Yep, that's what I meant by jumping "5 feet OVER their heads".

It's a bit difficult to explain.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Whimsical]

I did something like this yesterday. My dwarven barbarian with a Boots of Springing and Striding moved 20' then jumped 20' forward and cleared 5' to get behind an enemy that we were fighting in a hallway. I did take an AoO, but it got me where I wanted. That was fun.

5 ranks Jump
+8 STR (raging)
+4 40' movement
+5 boots of striding & springing
==
22 Jump score

Didn't even have to roll (but I didn't want to go for the DC 40 to clear 10'.)